Financial Institutions Deducting Fees and Garnishments From Social Security Benefits

Objective: To determine whether financial institutions (FI) were deducting service fees and garnishments from beneficiaries’ direct deposit, personal accounts. This report contains information related to the 12 largest FIs and a sample of 13 small-, medium- and large-sized FIs that received electronic deposit of payments to Social Security beneficiaries in the United States from September 1, 2006 through August 31, 2007. Specifically, this report contains information on

• the number of FIs that allowed the garnishment of Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance and/or Supplemental Security Income payments;
• the number of accounts upon which garnishment-related fees were imposed and the total dollar amount of fees charged to these accounts as a result of the garnishment; and
• the types of fees these FIs charged beneficiaries.